In This Moment: Nardi Simpson

In This Moment invites some of the most groundbreaking poets of our time to pause and reflect on where they are in their writing, what has come before and what they imagine for the future of their craft.

Join Yuwaalaraay storyteller Nardi Simpson and curator of In This Moment, Anne-Marie Te Whiu, for an interactive conversation about poetry and the way it intersects with our daily lives.

Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller from the northwest freshwater plains of NSW. As a member of Indigenous duo Stiff Gins, Nardi has travelled nationally and internationally for the past 22 years. She is also a founding member of Freshwater, an all-female vocal ensemble formed to revive the language and singing traditions of NSW river communities. Nardi is a graduate of Ngarra-Burria: First Peoples Composers and is currently undertaking a PhD in composition through the Australian National University’s School of Music. She is the current musical director of Barayagal, a cross-cultural choir based at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2021, she was First Nations artist in residence at the Sydney Conservatorium and with Ensemble Offspring. Nardi’s debut novel, Song of the Crocodile, won the 2017 Black&Write! Fellowship and the ALS Gold Medal, and was longlisted for the 2021 Stella Prize and Miles Franklin Literary Award. She currently lives in Sydney and continues to be heavily involved in the teaching and sharing of culture in both her Sydney and Yuwaalaraay communities. Her latest book is the belburd.

Anne-Marie Te Whiu (Ani) is an Australian-born Māori who belongs to the Te Rarawa iwi in Hokianga, Aotearoa NZ. She lives on unceded Gadigal and Wangal land. She is a cultural producer, writer, editor and weaver. Her poems, essays and non-fiction pieces have been published broadly across Australia and Aotearoa NZ. She has edited Woven (Magabala Books), Tony Birch’s Whisper Songs (UQP), Bebe Backhouse’s more than these bones (Magabala Books) and co-edited Solid Air: Australia & New Zealand spoken word (UQP). Between 2015 and 2017 she co-directed the Queensland Poetry Festival, and she was a co-director of the writers’ program for the Aotearoa New Zealand International Arts Festival (Wellington, February 2024). Ani’s debut poetry collection titled Mettle will be published by UQP in 2025.

Free tickets are available for First Nations audience members. Please reach out to us at to book your tickets.

Host or Publisher State Library of New South Wales